Merchant Shipping Act, 1992

PART IV

Miscellaneous

Safety of fishing vessels and their crews.

19.—(1) The Minister may by regulations make such provision as he considers necessary or expedient for the purpose of ensuring the safety of fishing vessels and their crews.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under this section may—

(a) require fishing vessels or specified classes of fishing vessels to comply with specified standards of seaworthiness (including stability),

(b) require fishing vessels or specified classes of fishing vessels to comply with specified standards of construction and maintenance,

(c) require fishing vessels or specified classes of fishing vessels to carry one or more of the following, that is to say, specified life-saving, fire-fighting, radio and navigation equipment,

(d) make provision for periodic surveys of fishing vessels or specified classes of fishing vessels and their equipment and the prohibition of the use for fishing of fishing vessels that have not been surveyed in accordance with the regulations or that, following such a survey, are declared by the person who carried it out to be unsafe for use for fishing, angling in the sea or angling in fresh water, and for appeals against such declarations and against other findings of such surveys, and

(e) make provision for ascertaining and testing the standards of competence of skippers and of any other members of the crews of fishing vessels or specified classes of fishing vessels, whether by examination, interview or otherwise, and the prohibition of those who do not reach such standards of competence as the Minister considers appropriate from working as skippers or, as the case may be, other members of the crews of such vessels and the prohibition of owners of such vessels from employing as skippers or other members of the crews of such vessels those who do not reach such standards as aforesaid.

(3) Regulations under this section may make provision for such consequential, incidental, ancillary and supplementary matters (including the enforcement of the regulations and, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, the charging of fees by the Minister) as the Minister considers necessary or expedient.

(4) Different provision may be made in regulations under this section for different classes of fishing vessels.

(5) If in respect of a fishing vessel there is a contravention of a regulation under this section, the owner and, if the vessel is in use for fishing, the skipper of the vessel shall each be guilty of an offence and shall each be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.